Discussion on a new Junction City High School was on the agenda at the Tuesday night Board of Education meeting.
Dr. Corbin Witt, USD 475 Superintendent, along with his colleagues, brought estimates in the range of $80 to $85 million to the Board to rebuild a new high school on the existing lot.
The formula, consists of $26 million dollars already saved from Heavily Impacted Aid from the Federal government, a $12 million estimate from the government next year, and $8 million the following year – to bring a total of $46 million dollars that the District can come up with on its own. The state, under current legislation, would then match 48% to bring the District the required funding it would need to build a new high school. All of this, according to Witt, can be done without raising the mill levy – though a bond issue would need to be voted on by the public.
“I describe the building as a building that has cancer, you drive by it and it looks healthy, but on the inside its just falling apart; it’s got infrastructure problems that we keep putting band-aids on, but eventually we’re going to have to build a new high school and the longer you wait, the more costly it’s going to be,” said Board member Tom Brungardt.
The $80-$85 million dollar estimates were provided by the architect firm Schaefer, Johnson, Cox and Frey (SJCF) – a firm that the District has worked with several times in the past.
It is important to note that the new school cost projections didn’t include moving the freshman in to the same building as grades 10 through 12. Additionally, the point was made by Associate Superintendent Dr. Beth Hudson that one of the reasons a new high school is need is because in five years, students in the District have three transitional phases – from 5th to 6th grade is a new building, from 8th to 9th and then again from 9th to 10th.
“I was a little disappointed to hear that the cost didn’t include moving the freshman over to the main building, I would love to have a situation where the freshmen are in the same building because I know right now their concern is that they don’t feel like they are part of the high school,” said Brungardt.
During the August Board meeting, Witt and Director of Business Operations William Clark, discussed plans to tour newly built schools in two Districts comparative to JCHS. One of the schools toured was Wichita Southeast which was designed by the architect firm SJCF at a projected cost of $68 million – today, the final figures are near $120 million.
Clark attributes much of that additional cost to new athletic facilities the Wichita Southeast District added as well as a pool.
“The most important thing I think we need to think about is that we started to visit this two years ago, the cost of these schools has continued to go up, we’re also investing more money in to this school every year – we’re looking at as much as $25 million over the next 5 or 6 years in to that school – would it be better served to put that money toward a new building,” said Brian Field, Board of Education member.
The Board ultimately didn’t vote on a new school today, they agreed to move forward with more information and research from the architect firm, and the community’s input.
“I want the community to be a partner in this, whether it’s coming from taxpayer money or coming from another source, I value their opinions,” said Board member Carolyn Gaston.
After community forums and outreach, the Board will revisit and possibly vote on the new school early next year.